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Art & Culture

The Barr Smith Library

The Barr Smith Library is South Australia’s largest research library.

On Open Day the Library will be open from 10am-5pm and feature a range of art and cultural experiences.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the Barr Smith Reading Room. The Reading Room is one of the University’s hidden treasures. Enter from the grand steps on the eastern side of the building or follow the signs from the Library’s main entrance to level 2 North. Friends of the Library will there to greet visitors, show them the Reading Room and answer questions. Catch short performances by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild of work by Creative Writing Students, 11.15am, 12.noon, 12.45pm.

Inside the main entrance (western side of the building) come and see a “Treasures exhibition” of some of the Library’s fine works held in the special and rare book collections.

For those people interested in keeping a little part of history, the Library will have a number of items on sale including Library photos and carry bags.

Library staff will be available at the Information Desk, located just inside the main entrance doors, to answer questions.

Art & Heritage Collections Program

The Art & Heritage Collections offer a program of events and activities which highlight the arts and cultural aspects of the University life and academic disciplines. It is produced with support of Development and Alumni volunteer guides and the Barr Smith Library.

Talks / Lectures

Graduate program in Art History and Curatorial
& Museum Studies
Time: 12pm
Location: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library
Associate Professor Catherine Speck
Find out about exciting postgraduate courses in Art History and Curatorial & Museum Studies. These courses are taught jointly by the University and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Session will conclude with a visit to the Art Gallery.

Creative Writing Program – Write Oh!
Times: 11.15am, 12.00pm and 12.45pm
Location: Reading Room, Barr Smith Library (F10)

The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild performs work by students in the University’s Creative Writing program. Directed by Michael Allen. Short, sharp, dynamic-performances run for around 20 minutes.

Curator Talk – Tanya Court
Lecturer in the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design
Time: 1:00pm
Location: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library

Tanya Court, curator of the exhibition Landed, a display of final year Landscape Architecture students work, will talk about the exhibition.

Artist Talk – Bev Southcott
Time: 2.00pm
Location: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library (F10)

Bev Southcott with discuss about her photo media exhibition Elsewhere. Southcott’s exhibition is a development of her ongoing concern of living and working within the urban city environment and of the every day.

Confucius Institute Presentation
Time: 3:00pm
Location: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library (F10)

Professor Mobo Gao Chang Fan,
Director, Confucius Institute
The University’s Confucius Institute was officially launched in March 2007 by the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs the Hon. Alexander Downer. The Institute is concerned with hosting, supporting and promoting Chinese cultural activities. Come and enjoy.

Exhibitions

Arthur Boyd’s The Judges Series
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Location: Mitchell Building exhibition space

Arthur Boyd chose the theme for his series of twelve paintings, The Judges, in the hope that judges would never forget about human frailties and the susceptibility of temptation. The series was purchased jointly by the University and the University Union through the Works of Art Fund Committee in two stages, in 1968 and 1970.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
Time: 10:30am to 3:30pm
Location: Mitchell Building basement

Explore the treasures on display in the Museum including Attic Marble lekythos fragment (4th century BC), terracotta sarcophagus from Tarquinia (Southern Etruria, Roman, ca 100 BC) and Villanovan cremation urn (northern Italy, 9th century BC).

Bev Southcott Elsewhere
Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Barr Smith Library Foyer

Southcott’s photo media compositions in Elsewhere are a development of her ongoing concern of living and working within the urban city environment and of the every day.  Elsewhere is a statement that could mean any place that is apart from here. A refuge that is slightly apart from our daily existence where dreams of otherness can occur. Here hope resides and other possibilities are made welcomed. It is these ‘elsewhere moments’ that keeps us grounded in our everyday commitments and responsibilities.

Sub Cruce Lumen: granting of arms to the University of Adelaide
Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Barr Smith Library Foyer

This display will feature archival material to tell the story of the application, approval and use of the University arms and motto as the symbolic representation of the University of Adelaide and its affiliate St Mark’s College. Join us to celebrate the Year of Academic Heraldry.

Landed  
Time: 10:00am-4:00pm
Location: Barr Smith Library Foyer

An exhibition highlighting the work from the 2007 graduating class from Landscape Architecture.  Landscape Architecture Final project is the culmination of student’s work towards a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Adelaide. These projects engage with the complexity of the usually competing needs of culture and the environment.

Tate Museum
Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Ground Floor, Mawson Laboratories

Established in 1925 and named after Ralph Tate, Elder Professor of Natural Sciences at the University from 1876-1901, the Tate Museum collection includes minerals, rocks, fossils and specimens that illustrate geological phenomena. Also amongst the items you can see when visiting are items collected during Sir Douglas Mawson’s expeditions.